The Summer Before, a prequel to the critically acclaimed (not to mention AWESOME) Babysitter’s Club series is now available in bookstores. The first four books in the original series are also being updated and re-released.

Sweet Valley Confidential, a book that chronicles the lives of the gorgeous and popular Wakefield twins, Elizabeth and Jessica, as they enter their late 20s and early 30s, should hit bookstores around February 2011.

Upon reaching the ripe old age of seven, I unilaterally decided that I was TOO OLD to read picture books. And so, after pleading my case to my mother one weekend, the two of us hit the library, in search of “Big Girl Books.” Holding my mother’s hand, I steered her clear away from the Children’s Book section, and headed determinedly toward the section containing books for “Juveniles and Young Adults.”

Two series immediately caught my eye, based on the sheer volume of related books to choose from. Both sets of books offered “pretty” covers, featuring enviably attractive “Big Girls,” who appeared to be significantly older, wiser, and cooler than myself. (Who says you can’t judge a book by its cover?) The names of the two series? The Babysitter’s Club and Sweet Valley Twins! I grabbed the first two books of each series off the shelf, and was on my way. And so began my long-term childhood friendship with a motley crew of babysitters, and two twin girls with vastly different personalities . . .

For the uninitiated, The Babysitters Club was initially comprised of four girls. Bossy Tomboy Kristy, Shy and Sensitive Mary Anne, Boycrazy New York Native Stacey, and the Artistic, but Academically Challenged, Claudia. In later books, the Club expanded to include Vegetarian California Girl Dawn and junior members – Bookish Horse lover Mallory, and Graceful Ballet Dancer Jessi. Most of the books would focus on the adventures of one particular club member, while using the babysitting experiences of her friends as subplots. As for me, I was probably most like the Mary Anne character, but WANTED to be most like Stacey, because she was BLONDE, POPULAR, GOOD AT MATH, and all the boys liked her. Sure, Mary Anne had Logan as a boyfriend, but honestly, he seemed pretty lame. (I’m sorry, but how many manly middle school boys do you know that actually ENJOYED babysitting?)

“Think she’d notice, if I closed my eyes and pretended she was a DUDE?”

I absolutely ADORED these books. And spent WAY too much time fretting over the lives of the aforementioned characters. (“OMG! Kristy is moving into a mansion! She’s so lucky!”) (“WOW! Dawn and Mary Anne are stepsisters now. FUN!”) (“WTF! Stacey is moving away!”) (“OH NO! Claudia thinks she’s ADOPTED!”)

In addition to reading the books, I also owned a Babysitters Club wall calendar, postcard book, and diary.

I saw the movie (which wasn’t nearly as good as the books). And watched the television series (which ALSO wasn’t as good as the books). The TV series, in particular, had some pretty crap acting. For an example, check out this old clip I found on YouTube. It just may feature a familiar face . . .

Some of my friends and I even attempted to start our own babysitters club. However, since the oldest of us was 9 at the time, we didn’t get many clients . . . For a time, I even tried to draw little hearts over my “i” s when writing in school, like the Stacey character did in her babysitting journal entries, but that didn’t stick either . . .

Ann M. Martin wrote literally hundreds of Babysitters books. The original series ran from 1986 through 2000. And you know what? In all that time, the kids NEVER AGED! By the time the series ended, these characters seemed more like kids that I would babysit, instead of the other way around. I have a theory as to why this is, but I’d rather keep it to myself, if you don’t mind . . .

And now, after nearly a decade away, it appears that the girls are about to get even YOUNGER! Age discrepancies aside, when I heard that Ann M. Martin was writing a prequel to the series entitled, The Summer Before, I was super psyched! I don’t care that I’m too old, I am TOTALLY reading this book. The seven-year old inside of me demands it!

Of course, part of me wishes that Martin had chosen to write a sequel, instead of a prequel, so that I could finally find out whether my babysitting pals ever actually graduated the eighth grade . . . But until that happens, at least I will be able to check in on my OTHER friends, the Wakefields.

If The Babysitters Club were the fictional girls that I most wanted as my friends, the Wakefield twins were the fictional girls I most wanted to BE! It was as if Francine Pascal, took the super cool Stacey character from The Babysitters series, transplanted her to the West Coast, cloned her, and gave her a book series all her own! Elizabeth was the smart, conscientious one — an excellent student, and class newspaper editor, with designs on a future career in journalism. She was kind of a goody-goody, and a tad boring, most of the time. So, of course, I related to her the most (even though I didn’t really want to) . . .

Jessica was a Total Bitch! Your classic mean girl.

She could care less about school or grades. And was only interested in boys and popularity, and her snooty “elite” club called The Unicorns.

Really, Francine Pascal? This was what you chose as your “Cool Girl” Mascot?

Throughout most of the series, Jessica took advantage of Elizabeth and generally treated her like crap. But, like any abusive relationship, she always apologized during the last few pages. So, Elizabeth, a glutton for punishment, took her back. And for some reason, despite all her evilness, us readers liked her anyway . . . (We even liked her more than we liked Elizabeth, although most of us didn’t want to admit it . . .)

Unlike The Babysitters Club series, which focused exclusively on the characters’ middle school years. We got to watch Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield throughout their childhood, and up through young adulthood. In fact, before the first book in the Sweet Valley Twins series was even released, there was Sweet Valley High, which detailed the highschool adventures of the Wakefield twins.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason (she never told me why), my mom wouldn’t let me read these books. I eventually read the first few when I was a bit older. And they WERE surprisingly risque, especially considering the time during which they were written. Upon turning 14, Jessica Wakefield went from just being a bitch, to being a bitch AND a slut.

In addition to these two series, Francine Pascal went on to release Sweet Valley Kids, which featured the twins in second and third grade . . .

Sweet Valley Senior Year (self explanatory), and the Sweet Valley University series. Oh, and of course, there was a TV show . . .

. . . which I never watched.

After taking a few years off, it appears that the Wakefield twins are back in action. In addition to the new Sweet Valley Confidential book (or, as I like to call it, Sweet Valley Adults), Juno writer, Diablo Cody, is also, apparently, in the process of penning a movie featuring the girls.

. . . although something tells me, were they actually to exist, Elizabeth and Jessica wouldn’t exactly be buddy-buddy with Diablo. Those tatts alone would send the prissy Wakefields running for the Hollywood Hills. Now THAT’S something I’d like to see on the big screen!

Wow! A blast from the past. Although I never read those series, my daughter did. Her bookcases were filled with the books, in order by number. Each series with their own shelf or shelves. All those books hung around for such a long time. I guess my daughter had a fondness for them because they were so much a part of her childhood. When she finally needed room for more mature books, she allowed me to bring them into the school where I taught. Wow, did I become a popular teacher. My school had its own “Babysitters and Sweet Valley” lending library. The girls never tired of them. The books which went to the school in pristine condition, soon looked old, worn, and loved. The authors had one REAL talent… writing books that little girls loved to read. Thanks for the memories KJewls.

You’re right Amazon Annie! The writers of The Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley Twins series were extremely talented, and definitely had a gift for creating memorable stories and relatable characters. They must have been pretty fast writers too, because the sheer volume on both of these series is super impressive! How did they come up with all of those ideas SO QUICKLY?

The publishing process is so time consuming now, and there is so much red tape to cross through, that even the most prolific of juvenile and young adult authors rarely publish more than a book or two a year . . .

Fortunately, the next generation will now have the opportunity to enjoy these series as much as we did.

I’m actually glad that I’ve been really sick the last week – it has given me the perfect excuse to lurk through all the fab content of this blog!! This particular blog is 137 kinds of awesomeness… :P

I’ll admit I’ve never read a BSC book! Gasp! Hard to believe, I know… But it is because I was a voracious reader of SVH, on the level of junk food consumption in a Gilmore household :) I swear to God, I have read EVERY SINGLE SVH there is (excluding Senior Years books because they aren’t what I classify as classic SVH).

Here are some of the insane SVH related things I did in my youth… I bought a bunch of black and white speckled notebooks so that my friends and I could create our own Slambooks. My friends and I played the SVH boardgame, where (no joke!) the winner reaches her dream date first. I engaged in heated Team Todd vs Team Jeffrey and Team Sam vs Team Ken debates with fellow SVHoholics. BTW, I loved the TV Boyfriend Olympic’s at Amy’s blog, and if I had to choose a Book Boyfriend it would be Sam.

Although all the SVH books have a special place in my heart because they formed my first ever pop culture addiction, the standouts would have to be those starring Crazy Margo and Crazy Nora. Seriously, I wish I had been in Francine’s ghostwriters’ room when they cooked up the complete and utter craziness of those storylines.

Have you read the draft chapter that Sweet Valley Confidential superfans can read? I felt like I had entered SVH bizarro world, that is for sure.

Hey Cherie! Thanks so much for your kind words, and I’m sorry to hear you haven’t been feeling well. If my shirtless men-filled blog has made you feel even the teensiest bit better, I’ve done my job this weekend ;). Hope you feel better soon . . .

Ooh, Slam Book Fever was one of the few SVH books I got the chance to read! (Shamefully, I was more of an SVT girl – blushes) And it was my FAVORITE! I think I may have even done a book report on it, back in the day. After reading it, I TOTALLY bought a Slam Book and made all my friends fill it out . . .

Did we live in the same household? Because I ALSO owned the SVH boardgame. I loved all the little game pieces with the characters heads on them. (Except, why did they include Geeky Winston in there? Who the heck wants to date Winston?) I also loved the cheesy clothes and outdated prom dresses you could “WIN” in the game.

In fact, most of the time, my friends and I didn’t play the boardgame at all! We just moved the character heads around the “high school,” and “dressed them up” in the cheesy clothes, like they were Barbies . . .

So, you were Team Sam, huh? It’s funny, but I always had a thing for Steven Wakefield! He was the epitome of the “cool older brother” and he always looked so hot on those book covers . . . ;)

Nowadays, I think my “Book Boyfriend” would probably be Adrian from the Vampire Academy Series . . . or Damon from TVD, of course. ;)

Completely unrelated to the matter at hand, but I couldn’t help but notice that you made a Gilmore Girl reference. ;) Have you seen this yet?

Apparently, this movie, The Roommate, starring Leighton Meester and Minka Kelly, is an adaptation of a Sweet Valley University book of the same name. (They’ve changed the names, but I am pretty sure Ally Mishalka has the “Jessica Wakefield” role. She even kind of looks like Jessica . . .)

Even weirder, the Francine Pascal book was supposedly a young adult / college version of a 1992 film, entitled Single White Female, starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Lee.

Oh, and did I mention Cam Gigandet is in it, playing “The Boyfriend?” ;)

Hehe! It has definitely made me feel better! The Salvatore brothers and Eric definitely release happy antibodies :) And to say thank you, follow this link to sign up for SV Confidential chapter one: http://www.sweetvalleytenyearslater.com/

There is no shame in being a SVT girl! I loved the crazy Christmas specials in particular. But does this mean that you haven’t read the Crazy Margo SVH miniseries? It is seriously the most awesome crack fiction ever, on a level that rivals the Twilight Saga. You should check out the 1bruce1 livejournal for lots of great write ups by fellow snarkers! Irinaauthor and strangerface are recapping goddesses in particular.

Steven definitely sounded hot!, Plus, it is probably safer to choose someone who isn’t one of Jessica’s boyfriends, because they sure did have a high mortality rate in the series. Looking back, I should have been amazed by the number of dead boyfriends she managed to rack up!

Ohh, another Vampire Academy fan! (BTW, my vampire fangirliness dates all the way back to Buffy). Do you have a soft spot for Christian, too? He is pretty Damonesque!

And yippe! A possible Gilmore Girls movie? Thanks so much for putting that on my radar :) The only thing that makes a coffee better is the possibility of a Luke being attached to it!

Oooh! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I had no idea the first chapter of Sweet Valley Confidential was out there already! Thanks so much for posting the link. I can’t wait to get home, so I can read it.

I haven’t had the pleasure of Crazy Margo on SVH yet. Is it too late? Are the books still in print? :)

LOL regarding the mortality rates on Jess’ BFs Come to think of it, didn’t Steven and Elizabeth have significant other fatalities too? Where did these kids grow up, Mystic Falls? ;)

Yay! Another Vampire Academy fan! I heard someone recently bought the movie rights to the series. How cool will that movie be?

And you are right, Christian is definitely a bit Damon-y, particularly in the first book, before he loses some of that edge. It’s funny, I actually prefer his love/hate relationship to Rose, over his slightly sappy relationship with Lissa. I guess that just makes me “dark.” ;)

If you’re curious, I did a “Create Your Dream Cast” blog post on the Vampire Academy, which you might enjoy:

You’re right! Sweet Valley Confidential IS bizarro world SVH! I kind of like how the author turned everything you thought you knew about the characters on its head, right from the get go.

Elizabeth living ALONE in a small apartment in New York? Having run away from Sweet Valley? (She still wears that same SV t-shirt to bed though, LOL!) And she works for a small free trade newsletter and NOT the New York Times?

I also love the fact that Lizzie’s BFFs with Bruce Patman! I’m a sucker for a reformed bad boy, so this twist worked for me. Plus I always thought the two of them had sexual tension . . . ;)

I was kind of bummed that we didn’t get to see Jessica in the first chapter though, and only heard her voice. Didn’t you get the impression Todd left Elizabeth for Jess and THAT’s why they weren’t talking? Because I did . . .

And after all these years, they still use the SAME character descriptions, down to the aquamarine eyes and rosy lips. I giggled when I read that. I also giggled at the Beyonce and Justin Timberlake references, which kind of showed the author’s age, as in, these are the only popular music artists she knows!

So glad you liked the info! I must admit I’m secretly angling for an awesome Sweet Valley Confidential post from you when it is finally released :)

Forget the Toddster, I want Liz and Bruce to end up together ! They actually hooked up in a SVH book that I read when I was 11 (I clutched my pearls at the time, the scene was so smokin’ ! Hehe!), so it isn’t so far out of left field.

I agree that Todd is behind the wedge that has been driven between the twins. He actually made a comment in one of the SVH books that “I hear that identical twins have identical talents” (I remember this because in my youthful innocence I thought he was referring to something like their cooking skills! Ha!), so maybe he tested the theory!

I LOL’d as well at the author’s attempts to appear “current” with the Beyonce and Justin Timberlake stuff. Although I was most scandalised by Liz owning a FAKE Prada bag! Hehe! I think your tracklisting is much closer to what she would actually listen to.

I don’t know what it is about the Sweet Valley series, but it is strangely addictive in the same way that the Twilight series is – you don’t really know why, but it is hard to stop reading once you open one of the books. If you can, find the Crazy Margo book (real name The Evil Twin) from a second hand book store, which deserves a Pulitzer Prize for being the most amazing crack fiction ever printed.

Oh, and in answer to your question, it is best to steer clear of all Wakefield offspring if you value your life. One of Elizabeth’s boyfriends ended up being a serial murderer who thought he was a werewolf (I swear I’m not making this up!) who was killed, and Steven’s first major girlfriend Tricia died of cancer only about 20 or 30 titles in (which led to no fewer than THREE books with a Steven B-plot where he fell down a spiral of angst after seeing a girl who closely resembled Tricia). Embarrasing that I remember these storylines, but what can I say… I love my Twinkie fiction! I know it is bad for me, but sometimes I need its spongy, creamy filled, sugary goodness!!

I will TOTALLY do a follow up Sweet Valley Confidential post, after I read the novel (even if you and I are the only ones who end up reading my entry). My 8-year old self DEMANDS it, and I couldn’t possibly let her down. (She’s quite the tantrum thrower . . .)

Ooh, I’ve ALWAYS had a soft spot for Bruce. (You know me, I prefer my men bad ass, and a bit jerky!) I would LOVE to get my hands on the Liz and Bruce Hookup book in SVH! (Good girl + Bad boy = perfection). I always thought the two of them had a bit of sexual tension, even in the highly neutered Sweet Valley Twins books. If I recall, they dated in that series for a book or two, as well.

“I hear that identical twins have identical talents” – Is it bad that this slimy comment makes me like Todd more? He always seemed so square to me. At least this shows he had SOME backbone . . .

I have a feeling we are not going to like him too much in this new book, however. Cheating on Liz with Jess in high school would have been slimy, but oddly hot. Cheating on Liz with Jess after years of MARRIAGE, however, is incredibly douchey, on the part of BOTH involved parties.

Haha, yeah, Liz doesn’t strike me as the type to own a “fake Prada bag” either. She seems more like someone who would favor a moderately trendy, yet affordable, bag purchased at a Department store, or someplace like Banana Republic. BTW, apparently, Francine Pascal is in her 70’s now! (She was born in 1938.) Go figure! I imagine that if she plans to continue on with this series, she probably needs to find a younger editor, who can help her out with these sort of details. (Hey, she can hire US! : )

I remember that book where Tricia died of cancer! I don’t think I actually read it, because it looked too sad for me. But I remember the cover! It was a yellowish book right? And Steven looked hot in it! Tricia looked, (dare I speak ill of the dead) a little frumpy. (Gosh, I’m terrible. But she’s fictional, so it’s OK.)

That’s hilarious that Steven kept seeing “Tricia” and getting massively depressed about it in multiple books. Did they at least acknowledge that this had happened before? I can just see the scene now:

“Steven was in the mall, shopping for jock straps, when he saw HER! His heart stopped. IT WAS TRICIA! IT HAD TO BE! He couldn’t believe it. Sure, he had been mistaken about this exact same thing at least twice every year, ever since she had died. (And there was that one time, in particular, when “Tricia” ended up being a 50-year old man). However, THIS TIME, she had obviously returned from the dead, to be his Corpse Bride . . .”

“I love my Twinkie fiction! I know it is bad for me, but sometimes I need its spongy, creamy filled, sugary goodness!!”

BEST QUOTE EVER! If there isn’t a t-shirt with this phrasing on it, we MUST make one!

Now, I am going to give my honest appraisal of the cover – after all, my enjoyment of all Twinkie fiction is always part snarkage and part guilty pleasure.

What I liked:

The Dynastyesque feel of the cover. The major market for this novel will be people feeling nostalgia for classic Sweet Valley novels (i.e. those released in the 1980s and early 1990s at the latest), and I feel like this was a modern nod to us rabids! I HEART the SV novels with little flags and blatant artistic misrepresentations (most cover pictures didn’t recreate a scene actually within the book!) on the front covers framed in bright, practically neon, colours. In fact, the text used for the Sweet Valley Confidential title is a direct throwback to this time! Yippee!

The fact that the hairstyles of the twins enabled you to tell who was who instantly.

The evidence that at least one of the twins is a giant dork at heart and still wears the golden lavaliere the girls wore throughout most of the SVH series. For those who don’t know, lavaliere is essentially a pretentious name for a golden heart necklace or similar that teen girls wear.

Points for neither one of the twins pressing a “Shhh!” finger against their lips. Ohh cover artist, the restraint you showed is nothing short of revolutionary in the SV verse!

What I didn’t like:

Julie, like you said in your email to me, I am disappointed we didn’t get to see the full visages of the twins. I understand that the title is Sweet Valley CONFIDENTIAL, and thus partial shots of their faces fits in with this theme, but I agree with you that part of the fun of visiting the girls ten years llater is seeing what they ended up looking like … particularly since so much of this series was based on superficial looks!

An extension of the first point – the discovery that if special edition copies featuring older versions of various beloved characters are released, their faces will be obscured. And I would want to see Todd’s coffee coloured brown eyes, dammit!

Although I am proud Jess did not give in to the temptation to have a nose job and I, look, my nose is probably hardly any cuter, but her nose on the cover was freaky and not at all the perfect size six nose you would expect!

I hunted down my old Crazy Margo series books, and they are moth-eaten, worn and yellow-paged, which is fitting given my Sweet Valley love was a direct result of spending an until-that-point-boredom-filled afternoon haunting the Sweet Valley section of a second hand bookstore.

I recommend finding a website to download the books safely. They truly are the Pulitzer Prize worthy miniseries of the SV franchise and contain doppelganger hijinx … in other words, right up your alley, Julie!

This post pretty much made my entire day. :) There is also a BSC book that is essentially like a glossary of all of the BSC books every published, as well as their plot summaries. I know this because one of my friends got this book as a present in high school and I was jealous.

Oh yeah, and I pretty much credit super cool, diabetes Stacey for making me eventually move to Manhattan and chill Dawn for getting me eventually move to SoCal. Essentially, it’s pretty scary how much ficitional characters influence you throughout the decades, years after the fact.

Ode to the Super Specials! I am pretty much obsessed with going to Sea City, NJ (but wait, it doesn’t exist!). Help me, Jersey girl, help me!!!! Where is a good replacement to go instead?

Given all that, it’s pretty cool that these characters influenced your life in the major way that they did.

I LOVED the Sea City special addition book!! It was definitely one of my favorites of the series. For what it’s worth, I always thought the destination was meant to be some what of an amalgamation of Cape May, Seaside, and Ocean City — all beach vacation destinations in NJ. :)

Oh my god! When I was little (which really wasn’t that long ago…and was actually already after most of the fans of these books had already grown up…) I used to LOVE LOVE LOVE the babysitter’s club! I figured the books were old (well old to me) because of the covers, but wow they really are quite old I guess. I read them obsessively, and I read one or two Sweet Valley books as well. Wow, this is such a blast from the past, and it made me really happy, because I envied Stacy’s hearts on her i’s aswell! I tried to do that too! :D I can’t imagine them only being in 8th grade which is 14 I guess, because they always seemed so big and mature to me, and now I’m older than them. I was really sad when Stacy moved away, and am I remembering correctly or did she have diabetes?
I never used to be able to decide which character was the one I was most similar too. I thought Stacy was cool, but she was nothing like me. I used to really empathise with Claudia because she was arty and creative like me, though I got SO exasperated with how thick she could be :P Plus she was always drawn as being all beautiful and exotic on the covers, so I wanted to look like her. Or, I wanted to have red hair like Mallory, and Mary Anne was such a sweety.Do I remember Dawn being a bit of a sap or am I making that up? Maybe that was Mary Anne. I’m struggling to remember the different girls now but from your description of ‘loudmouth tomboy Krissy’ I wonder if I may have been a bit like her… I definately remember wanting to be as sporty and down with it as she was. Hmm, reading the wiki description of Mallory (braces, glasses, wants to be a writer) maybe I’m actually more like her than I thought. I guess I’m a combo of Krissy, Claudia and a little bit of Mallory.
I remember reading one book where they went to visit Stacy in CA or something, and she was desperate to be a ‘California girl’ so Mallory had a makeover and dyed her hair blonde. I found this shocking since she was only 11, at the time I was about 9 but I wouldn’t have DREAMED of even doing that. She tried to audition for a TV show, but they told her that she wasn’t the right sort of girl ie. she looks too fake. That was really sad but it made her realise to be happy with who she actually is, ie. red hair, and no make up, and it all ends happily.
I never realised they made a show and stuff, I started watching that clip, and you’re right. That’s possibly the worst acting I’ve EVER seen!
Have you ever heard of the Sleepover Club? It was basically the UK version of TBC, and I was overjoyed to discover that they’re republishing that now too.

Hey Maddy! I actually do remember the Sleepover Friends books. . . Those were great! It looks like they made that into a TV series as well.

It is amazing how long all these books have been around, and how our perspective about them changes, as we get older, and they stay the same age. When I first started reading the books, like you, I was the same age as the kids the Babysitters babysat for (second or third grade, I think). So, of course, I thought the BSC kids were SOOOO cool and grown up . . . with their money-making club, their cute boyfriends, their “cool clothes” (in hindsight, their clothes were AWFUL . . . yes, even my idol, Stacey’s), and their big fancy vacations.

Speaking of those vacations, those Super Special vacation editions were always my favorite ones in the series. I still remember the one from the cruise . . . and when they went to Disney World . . . and the beach vacation . . . and the one at the ski lodge. :)

And you are right, Stacey definitely had diabetes. And Mary Anne was a bit of a drip (which makes me sad, because I’m still probably more like her than the other girls, except that my handwriting is as atrocious as hers is neat). Come to think of it, Mary Anne’s boyfriend Logan was kind of a drip too (but he was still hot :))

I think Dawn was actually the “California Casual” girl, while Stacey was the resident New Yorker. In fact, I read recently that, shortly after the Babysitters Club’s first run, they published a slightly more mature set of books about Dawn’s California friends. And those books were supposedly much edgier than your typical BSC fare. I’d actually be really interested in getting my hands on those. I wonder if they are still in print.